Phytonet

A regenerative Internet of water

Our current internet is growing at an incredible pace, every email we send and video we stream every day consumes energy. To question the status quo of the "faster and more" development model, I’ve teamed up with researchers from the University of Cambridge to create an algae-powered internet by combining the power of photosynthetic cycles and network technology to redefine how we connect and communicate in the digital landscape.

Introducing Phytonet — a regenerative web servers network powered by electricity generated by phytoplankton and microalgae in our rivers and canals. The algae-powered web server not only hosts web content but is also embedded with environmental sensors to monitor the water quality of our waterways. By integrating this regenerative energy source into the Internet's infrastructure, Phytonet aims to spark the imagination of an alternative model to run our Internet that is sustainable and in sync with nature's rhythms.

Project Team

Maria Li

Dr. Lorraine Archer (University of Cambridge)

Dr. Paolo Bombili (University of Cambridge)

Partner

Canal & River Trust

Year

2022 - Ongoing

Location

London, United Kingdom

Harnessing electricity from photosynthesis

The algae solar cell harness electricity from photosynthesis. The device design is based on the latest research on the Biophotovoltaic (BPV) system. The system functions like a bioreactor. It consists of two electrodes, the metallic wool (anode) which is populated with microalgal biofilm and the plant root-carbon tube (cathode). Microalgae function like plants, they do photosynthesis to produce food for themselves, absorb carbon dioxide, and release oxygen. In this process, electron flows are generated. By harnessing this electron flow, electricity is generated to power up our environmental sensors and web servers.

Phytonet website with open water quality data

The website with the water quality map is hosted by the algae-powered server.

You can go to the Phytonet website here: https://phytonet-beta.glitch.me/

The algae-powered web server not only hosts web content but it is also embedded with environmental sensors to monitor the water quality such as temperature and dissolved oxygen level of the canal. The data are shared as open data accessible to the public.

Research & Process

Plankton hunting

To better understand the local aquatic planktonic ecosystem in which the pilot run will take place, I did canal microalgae hunts to collect local microalgae samples, identify and culture them for the BPV system.

Photo by Jordan Murray

Plankton hunting

I also took algae sample on metal surface of the canal bank.

Our mighty collaborators - Phytoplanktons

These beautiful phytoplanktons from the canal are the main contributor to generating electricity in the algae solar cell. This microbial community includes diatoms, green algae, dinoflagellates, and cyanobacteria. They come together to form biofilms to share food and resources, resulting in an underwater alliance to capture carbon and purify water.

Photo by Dr. Lorraine Archer

Anode Algae Biofilm Formation Experiment

Different anode materials i.e. platinum wire, stainless steel mesh graphite rod, and aluminum wool are tested to observe algal biofilm formation.

Speculative artefacts

A set of question prompt cards and speculative artefacts are designed as probes to collect peoples’ feedback about the project. The cards invite people to sketch their thoughts about how would they envision the algae-powered internet in different scenarios, and thinking from the perspective of the algae.

prompt cards

Stakeholders Interviews

Besides, I also conducted interviews with the target users including people living on boats to understand their needs and how they think about the proposed new internet model.

Photo by Nina Gonzalez-Park

Algae solar cell Electrochemical Characterisation

Polarisation curve experiments were run to provide different sets of information to researchers in evaluating the performance, stability, and optimization of the algae solar cell.